


The Cool Kids

by aceofhearts88



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson Friendship, Bucky Barnes and Gabe Jones Friendship, M/M, a story set in two times, still fighting against Hydra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 21:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10370031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofhearts88/pseuds/aceofhearts88
Summary: They called themselves the "Cool Kids", the epic ones in a team that was already quite special, and maybe Bucky is the only one left, but that doesn't mean he still doesn't have the "Cool Kids" to fight along.And with Sam around, things remain epic anyway.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MoonIsNeverAlone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonIsNeverAlone/gifts).



> completely ignore everything that happened in Agents of Shield, not relevant for this, also kinda independent of Civil War

Waiting wasn't something Sam liked, at least not when the timeframe skipped over a certain point, by then his ass was just crawling with bees and his head was going out of itself to come up with stupid ideas to pass the time. 

Sam hated waiting and he would have loved to have even an ounce of the stone calm patience that kept Bucky just sitting there, leaning against the tree like a statue, blue eyes set on the stars in the sky. Freaking snipers. They were waiting on the support from Shield to take down the Hydra base, a thing that should have gone down hours ago but Shield had run into problems on their side of things and now they were waiting outside this little German village.

Fire made, tent built up, and where Steve would have once upon time dug out the old "in my time" stories and drawn out the process until Sam was ready to let him do the work all by himself, Bucky and him had just worked effortlessly together. Everything set up within ten minutes.

Which ultimately drew out the boring waiting time even longer.

Shit.

"You remind me of a friend I once had." Bucky said quietly, eyes still set onto the twinkling stars in the sky while Sam couldn't help but shift around, feeling uncomfortable no matter what he did.  
"Oh? Someone hopefully just as cool as I am." Sam wondered and then raised an eyebrow when Bucky smiled, not grinned, not smirked, just smiled as bright as the sun that had sunk hours ago.

"Just as epic, Wilson, just as epic. His name was Gabe." 

Wait.

What?

Gabe Jones?

Howling Commando Gabe Jones?

Sam was staring and screaming on the inside while Bucky smiled up at the stars, lost in memories that warmed his heart, Sam was still able to see that despite the overwhelming shock turning everything kinda into white noise at the moment.

"He couldn't sit still either. He hated waiting, but he also was one of the greatest friends I ever had."

\--

Seventy something years earlier

\--

He grabbed two bowls of whatever it was the boys had cooked up in that already strange smelling pot Monty had found god knows where. He really didn't want to think about where any of this was coming from as he stepped past Cap and Dum Dum still brooding over their maps despite it by now being so dark that they couldn't possibly be seeing anything anymore.

Fire or not.

He rolled his eyes and stepped out of the little circle the guys had formed around the fire, they were alone for miles. No one for miles, neither enemy nor ally, and boy you could feel it. Nothing but trees and hills and mountains, freaking wildlife. Fucking bunnies scaring the crap out of you in the morning while all you wanted to go was relieve yourself.

Gabe mumbled to himself as he walked up the small rocky overhang below which they had found shelter for the night, the temperatures had not fallen any further and he hoped it would stay like this until they brought this mission home. The snow was already bad enough, they didn't need to have the degrees drop below zero now as well.

The goal he steered his steps towards was the huddled figure on top of the overhang, leaning back against the thick old oak tree, coat collar popped up, unlit cigarette in his right hand while he stared off into the distance. Knees pulled up to his chest, left arm wrapped around them.

Gabe couldn't even count the times anymore that he had found Bucky like this in the last months.

He sat down carefully,close enough that their shoulders and hips were touching, mindful to keep the bowls from overflowing, it would taste awful but that still didn't mean they could waste something warm for their stomachs. Bucky made no move to take the bowl that Gabe held out for him, and only when Gabe nudged his shoulder did Bucky blink and look away from the darkness of the forest around them.

"Eat." Gabe told him and pushed the bowl into the hand that slowly got raised, "And don't ask me or yourself what it is." Bucky broke his silence with a loud ugly snort but finally took the bowl and brought it up to sniff at it, pulling a grimace as he did so, "I warned you." Gabe chuckled and took a good sip of it, and didn't gag or choke on it, so it wasn't as bad as it smelled.

"Is he still sulking?" Bucky spoke up after eating a bit as well, Gabe tried very hard not to think of how little he had eaten compared to them in the last days and was still easily able to keep up, instead he rolled his eyes.  
"Whom do you mean? Cap or your boy? Because I think by now they are trying to outsulk each other while at the same time not letting the other know about it. It's pathetic, Dum Dum is having way too much fun." Gabe explained and Bucky glanced over to him, "Yeah, okay, fine, we are all having too much fun, but did you expect this to go down any other way? Cap was bound to find out."

"You have no idea how oblivious he can be." Bucky muttered and drank another little bit of 'soup', Gabe decided to keep him talking if it meant he would eat. "Figures of course that it would be this detail he catches onto." More angry muttering turned into more soup being eaten, perfect. And well, Gabe thought to himself, if Cap had by now caught onto the other change in his best friend's life, said man wouldn't be sitting here with them anymore.

"Would you have preferred it to be the other way around?" Gabe asked him, setting his bowl to the side when it was empty and leaned back against the tree as well, Bucky gave a short hoarse laugh.   
"Yeah, sure, Gabe, because Steve's reaction to finding out about those things would have led to sulking as well. I can take a few days of him refusing to talk to me, but him looking at me the way Monty and you do? No, I don't want that from him. He'll turn it into drama." Bucky snarled angrily, but still quiet, still so fucking quiet all the time.

"I'd like to think it's 'used to look' by now. Monty and I are doing our best to not think about it all the time, but it's not exactly easy." Gabe dropped his voice a little sharper as well and Bucky flinched as he emptied the bowl, Gabe privately congratulated himself on a job well done.  
"Gabe..." Bucky sighed, setting the bowl to the ground and dropping his forehead against his knees, he took a few loud breaths before he went on, "I'm sorry."

It was Gabe's turn to sigh, head rolled back against the tree, "It's fine. I'd rather have you sometimes frustrated over our concern now than you not feeling like you can't trust us enough."  
"I haven't told the others." Bucky reminded him without looking up still and Gabe hummed in a first reaction, "Monty and you are the only ones who know."  
"The others have enough to deal with already. And you're already going crazy with Monty and me hovering, I don't want to imagine the outcome if everyone knew." Gabe chuckled and Bucky knocked a shoulder against his when he straightened up again.

"How are you doing then? Don't think I didn't see how you took that hit this morning." Bucky turned the interrogation on him and Gabe groaned, should have seen that coming.  
"I'm fine." He answered and Bucky turned his head to the side to look at him, eyes narrowed, "Yeah, I know." Gabe gave in, "I'm not letting you get away with it, so why should I." He sighed, let himself fully relax for the time being, eyes closed, they were far away from the closest sign of human life, friend or foe.

And all of his experiences from the last weeks told him that even while openly loose and calm, Bucky was still wired enough to sense even a bunny approach their camp in the dead of night.

"I'm okay." He explained when he still felt blue eyes on himself, "We're all packing punches now, part of the job." Bucky grunted unhappily, "Your bullets can't be everywhere at once. Stark can give you the best rifle and it still won't change that. I can fight, Bucky, I signed up, remember? I knew what I was getting myself into. And honestly, what I'm hearing here, it's no different than what's going on at home." Bucky made no move to say something, just let his head fall to the side so it rested on Gabe's shoulder, silent sign of comfort.

"Really? I thought I was coming for the cool kids." A familiar voice had both of them laugh, looking up and to he left where Monty climbed up the last rocky steps before he could walk over to them. "Instead I'm abandoning Dernier's stupid bloody jokes for the gloomy two."  
"Says the one who has been sulking for the last eight hours!" Bucky argued and still pushed the empty bowl to the side so that Monty could sit down on his other side.

Monty rolled his eyes but Gabe could see how he caught sight of the empty bowl and the little satisfied twitch of his lips before he smiled at Bucky. He sat down and leaned against a shoulder that would be strong but cold, Bucky was always cold these days.  
"Even cool kids can have a quiet night." Gabe picked up the conversation again, "Is Frenchie trying to make Cap blush again?" Monty nodded with a snort, a sound that he had so eeriely in common with Bucky that it was hilarious almost. 

"Do yah think he'll catch on at some point that Steve understands him?" Bucky wanted to know, grinning and glancing over to him, Gabe shook his head with a smile.  
"And even if, it's not going to stop him from continuing with his stupid dirty jokes. He loves them too much, even if they are terrible." He said and Bucky and Monty both laughed over the tone of his voice, he still refused to translate those parts of Jaques' horrible taste in humor.

"He will be thrilled to hear then that he can walk with Rogers tomorrow. I am not enduring another march at his side, he has been too bloody awkward today." Monty grumbled and Bucky laughed louder, head thrown back against the bark of the tree. Oak, birch, whatever, Gabe had no idea and didn't fucking care.  
"You just want to be back with the cool kids up front scouting ahead." Gabe grinned and Monty all childishly stuck his tongue out at him, "Oh, come on, Monty, you missed us."

"He's smug because he got you to eat without you noticing, huh?" Monty wanted to know and Bucky nodded, biting his lips to keep from grinning, Gabe growled and shoved them both into the dirt, but wasn't fast enough to react when Bucky's hand snapped out and pulled him down as well.

\--

"What are you doing?"

"Your greetings are seriously beginning to lack in tact!" Bucky smirked at Gabe and then leaned over the bombed out car to take out another Hydra soldier, "And when the fuck did this turn into an open firefight? I intensely recall someone repeatedly mention stealth."  
"Don't look at us!" Gabe yelled over to him despite sitting right next to where Bucky ducked down behind the car again as Hydra took up shooting again, "Try big, blond and impatient!"

Guns clicked out of ammo somewhere over by the open garage doors of the forest hidden base, and Bucky, Gabe and Monty lurched up to open fire at the same time. Gabe and Bucky swung themselves over the destroyed hood of the car to take cover further up front behind a turned over crate while Monty kept their backs clean. 

Their boots scraped against the ground as both men ducked down again just in time to avoid the blue lightbeams of Hydra's weapons.   
"And they took their favourite toys out again." Bucky groaned, reloading his gun as Gabe shifted and then cursed next to him, reaching down to tuck something out from under the crate. Something round. Something red, white and blue.

"Seriously?" He wanted to know, "He lost it? Again?!" And he turned incredulous eyes on Bucky who shrugged his shoulders, who was not expecting it by now. Maybe he really should talk with Stark about some kind of magnet, someone needed to attach Steve to his freaking shield.  
"He's like a dog with a stick. All he wants is to play fetch." Gabe grunted out and brought the shield up, slipping his hand through the leather straps on the backside just as Monty used a brief window of opportunity to rush over to them, crashing into Bucky and bringing him down into the dirt.

"Where are Steve and the others anyway?" Bucky wanted to know, one reason of him having abandoned his sniper nest had been that he had only seen Gabe and Monty anymore.  
"Last time I saw them, Cap and Dum Dum slipped in through the backdoor, guns blazing." Monty explained, dusting off Bucky's jacket after they had rightened themselves again.  
"Well, as long as we keep the action out here, less trouble for them inside." Gabe concluded and then scoffed at the looks he cashed in from his two friends. "What? It's true! We just need to draw them out into the open. Monty stays here, Bucky and I go over there." And he pointed over to one of the trucks Hydra's soldiers had been loading with boxes, Bucky followed the path with his eyes.

"It's like four to one." Monty complained but Bucky found himself shrugging along, resting a hand on Monty's knee to calm him when Monty made a distressed sound in response to his reaction.  
"We've had worse." He pointed out and Gabe nodded, "Their weapons can't damage the shield, we still have lots of ammunition. And it's not like the rest isn't around at all."

"If you get hurt again..." Monty started but Bucky cut him off, reaching up with his free hand to cup his face, soft smile on his lips, Gabe turned away to give them a moment.  
"I won't, I promise." Bucky said and Monty closed his eyes briefly before he nodded, "Stop worrying about me all the time. You've seen how quickly those bruises healed, I will be fine."  
"Alright." Monty breathed out, squeezing Bucky's shoulder briefly, "Keep an eye on Gabe."

"Keep an eye on yourself, Monty." Gabe snorted and then slid over to the edge of the crate, "They're asking themselves if they got us, I think we should use our window." He hefted the shield higher and raised his gun, "You with me, Barnes?" Bucky grinned and flipped a knife up with the hand that had previously been stroking over Monty's jaw, his right hand still holding onto his gun, rifle slung over his shoulders.

"Always."

\--

"Is this what you wanted?!" Bucky yelled over to Gabe ten minutes later, slamming the barrel of his gun against the throat of a Hydra goon and kicking himself out of the hold of another. At least no one was shooting at them with those god fucking blue glowing guns anymore.  
"I don't know what you mean, this is fun!" Gabe hollered and grinned bright, slamming the shield full front against an attacker, to his left still hidden half behind the crate, Monty was engaged in a shootout with a small group of soldiers that had stormed out of the main entrance when the screams had started.

Bucky laughed over Monty's following tirade of every single curse word the English language had to offer, swinging himself over a wooden box to bring down a duo of soldiers who had thought to have succeeded in sneaking up on him, kicking both of them right in the sternum with one foot each before rolling himself off over one shoulder.

"BUCKY!"

Holding his arm out before even turning around, Bucky caught the shield as Gabe threw it to him, needing both hands to take one attacker into a chokehold, kicking himself off the ground and swinging himself around to kick another one to the ground. Bucky waited just long enough to see Gabe's feet finding ground again before throwing the shield in an arc, taking out a Hydra soldier ducking down for one of those blasted guns before Gabe grabbed it out of midair again.

"Nice move." A voice spoke up from behind Bucky and he smirked, watching Gabe take on another opponent before looking over his shoulder at Steve.  
"So we're talking again?" He wanted to know, checking over his friend quickly, eyes narrowing at the obvious gunshot wound in his right side. Steve flushed and glanced over to where Monty was still shooting.  
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I overreacted. Let's clean this up, we found some stuff inside. I need Gabe to take a look at them." Steve explained and Bucky knocked their elbows together before Steve jogged off, "Hey, Gabe! You got something of mine!"

"Lose it one more time and I'm considering it mine, Cap!"

Rolling his eyes over Steve's indignant growl, Bucky jogged back over to Monty, aiming as he went. Monty shoved at him for the two kills he took from him but also leaned into the quick kiss Bucky had for him in apology.

\--

They made camp back in the forest that night, far away from the base that any Hydra patrols wouldn't find them so easily and with the mood for once quite uplifting, Bucky didn't develop to urge to get distance and quiet. 

Instead he remained down with the guys, rolled his eyes over Dum Dum's stories and smiled at Steve's faces when Dernier got into it again. Gabe translating just for Monty and Bucky.

It had been a good evening, a good day really, a full success for once, Bucky mused as he sat second watch in the dead of night, carding his fingers through Monty's hair where he laid sleeping next to where Bucky was sitting propped up against a bolder. Steve was snoring across the fire from them, Dum Dum next to him, just as fucking loud. Jim was clutching his wife's photograph in his hand as he slept with his feet nearly touching Monty's. Dernier was still grinning, even in his sleep and Bucky felt his own mouth twitch up again in memory of Steve's truly traumatized expression upon Dernier's best story of the night.

It was Gabe though who let the grin slip of his face just as quickly again, having fallen asleep earlier with his face dropped into the German files they had liberated from the Hydra base, he was now frowning, twitching in his sleep, sweat on his forehead. Carefully Bucky slipped away from Monty's side and crouched down to where Gabe was still sleeping only two feet away.

Obviously caught in a nightmare.

"Gabe?" He called out in a whisper, leaning down and setting a careful gentle hand on Gabe's shoulder, "Hey, Gabe, you're okay, you're safe." And Gabe lurched up with a loud gasp, one hand flying up in a defense motion but Bucky simply grabbed it and brought it against his chest, settled it on top of his heartbeat. Gabe took a shuddering breath then but relaxed again, brought his other hand up to splay his fingers out over his face.

"You with me?" Bucky wanted to know and Gabe nodded, prompting Bucky to let go of him again, giving him a moment to breathe.   
"Thanks." Gabe told him quietly after a moment, "That one really was a bastard." He sighed, dragging both hands over his face and rubbing at his temples, Bucky gave him a wry smile, glancing around their camp to check if everyone else was still asleep.

"You wanna go back to sleep?" He asked Gabe once he could be sure they were still pretty much alone, but he was already reaching for the deck of cards before Gabe even said a word. They knew each other by now, well enough to have a feeling when sleep wouldn't come so soon anymore, or at all like it often was in Bucky's case nowadays.  
"Nah, I'll keep you company until it's Dum Dum's turn to take watch." Gabe said as expected and Bucky smirked at him, flipping up the cards.

Maybe they weren't talking about the horrors of what happened at Krausberg or in the war around them, not really anyway, but that didn't mean they had to go through it alone.

\--

Seventy something years and one and a half years later

\--

"You stand up again, again and again. No matter how hard the knock-down had been." Bucky told him as he broke out of his story and though slowly getting tired, Sam had hung onto his every word, "It's not like I flash back and see him sometimes when I fight at your side, that's not how it is. You're like him in a lot of ways. You fought because you believed, you fight because you still believe that good should be protected and saved."

And then Bucky looked over to Sam and smiled and Sam felt the praise right down to his core and so he only managed a nod.

"That comparison means a hell of a fucking lot to me." Sam managed to say after a moment of silence and Bucky smiled, reaching over to pat his shoulder.  
"He would have liked you. The two of you would have had the time of your lives driving Steve crazy." Bucky chuckled and Sam ruined his own snicker with a big yawn.

"So, we're the cool kids now, huh?"

"Go to sleep, Sam." Bucky laughed and got to his feet, holding out a hand that Sam grabbed to let himself be pulled up as well, grinning and smirking.

\--

Bucky woke him the next morning, fucking cold metal hand shoved down the back of his shirt when Sam only grumbled over his shoulder being shook. The following scuffle and loud cursing would have ruined any actual intended stealth completely, so points for them for being so far out in fucking nowhere that no one would be able to hear him.

Not even when Sam threw Bucky out of the tent and Bucky was too busy laughing to keep on his feet and tripped down the small hill and almost into the little stream that was passing by where they had taken up camp for the night.

"You suck." Sam was still grouchy and cranky even after MRE breakfast and icky coffee, and the uphill track they were taking to get to the radioed in meeting up with their Shield back-up wasn't exactly helping his mood either. Bucky on the other hand was in splendid spirits, pumped up by a good night's sleep and the to-be-looked-for ass-kicking that was waiting on them. He glanced over his shoulder to where Sam was following behind him, navy stealth suit still sticking out in the browns and greens of the forest, the round frame of the shield strapped to his back a bright target anyway.

"Whom are we meeting anyway?" Sam wanted to know as they both now heard the distant sound of a quinjet approaching.  
"That's for me to look forward to and for you to find out." Bucky laughed, grinning when he had reached the top of the hill and could look into the wide clearing, one hand to shelter his eyes against the sun. Sam grumbled something under his breath that Bucky chose to ignore as he drew up to him, looking up as the quinjet descended from the clouds, mirror panels pulling back as the jet set for landing.

When the ramp got lowered, Bucky smirked and leaned back against the tree he had stopped next to, Sam was shifting on his feet again.

"Barnes! Missed me already?"

And Bucky snorted when he heard the voice of the man who stepped down into the grass, heavy boots crunching the earth, bright smile lighting up his face.

"Always, Trip, always." Bucky chuckled and pushed himself forward, briefly glancing over to smile at how Sam's eyes had grown huge before he walked up to the young man coming over to them. They embraced and patted each other on the back before Bucky slung his arm around Trip's shoulder and pulled him over to Sam. "Sam, I want you to meet Agent Antoine Triplett. And Trip, this is Sam Wilson, our still fresh Captain America." Bucky introduced the man drawing himself up straight as he came face to face with Sam who made his back straight as well.

"It's an honor to meet you, Captain." Agent Triplett smiled almost brighter than the sun, taking the offered hand and shaking it with a tight grin, Sam was grinning so bright Bucky was expecting the sun to strike against him in envy.  
"It's an honor to meet you as well, Agent Triplett. I've heard incredible stories about you from my husband and this one." And Sam nudged a shoulder in Bucky's direction who smirked when Trip glanced at him.

"I hope good stuff." Trip said and Bucky let his smirk only widen in intensity, prompting Trip to narrow his eyes slightly in warning, "You want me to tell Captain America about Bolivia?" And Bucky's smirk dropped into a scowl as he growled, "Thought so. I am looking forward to fighting with you." Trip turned back to Sam, "And it's Trip by the way."

"Then I'm persist on Sam. And I am all for listening to stories about Bucky humiliating himself or getting hurt. I am always open to collect blackmail." Sam offered with a smile that Trip quickly mirrored. And Bucky was left feeling satisfied over knowing they would get along and slightly alarmed over how well they got along so quickly.

It was of course then that Trip's companion made himself known.

\--

"It can surely wait until later."

Sam saw how Bucky froze up from toes to the tips of his hairs upon hearing the voice of the man stepping out from the jet once the engines had cooled down. Blue eyes went wide while Sam glanced over Bucky's shoulder, catching sight of Nick Fury holstering another set of ammuniton as he walked over to them, the ramp of the jet seemingly closing on its own.

"Got somewhere to be, Nick?" Sam called out happily, mood increasingly better. Howling Commando legacy standing right there next to him and it was neither the Super-Soldier he was married to, nor was it the Super-Soldier he was working alongside now. Antoine Triplett, despite his youth already basically a legend at Shield and though Sam wasn't associated in any way with the reborn fragments of Shield he still had heard enough story over the years. From Steve, from Sharon, from Bucky.

He made a few steps forward, didn't realize until it had happened that he had strategically placed himself between Nick and Bucky. Not that he was expecting any ill will on either side, Bucky being called into assisting Shield missions hadn't happened if Fury was still pissed at him for having been shot.

"Could have warned me." Bucky was hissing towards Trip as Sam shook Nick's hand, getting a pat to his shoulder as well. He had gotten used by now to the uniform, to the weight of the shield resting on his shoulders and back or in his hands. Throwing, catching, calculating, it had all washed into second nature by now, and still, every small gesture of appreciation felt good.

Especially when it came from someone like Nick.

"I didn't know until I was already on the jet." Trip hissed right back at Bucky and then Sam heard some shuffling that probably indicated that Trip was shoving Bucky around. His guess was proven true when Bucky appeared right at his shoulder, face closed off but at least not scowling, little victories.

"Barnes." Nick turned to Bucky, offered his hand to him as well, Bucky shook it in the most awkward manner possible. All that was missing was the little feet shuffling and the head ducked down, eyes plastered to ground move and he'd totally look like Riley.  
"Sir." Bucky returned the greeting, stiff as a board and probably just one tiny twitch away from actually saluting. Small miracle that he didn't, after all it had taken Rhodey what felt like ages to get it out of him.

Jesus Christ, ease up a little, Buck.

"Considering that my agents are all throwing themselves over each other to be assigned joined missions with the Winter Soldier, I was inclined to see what all the fuss is about." Nick spoke up and while Sam snorted he saw Bucky throwing a glare in Trip's direction who in turn threw up his hands and shrugged his shoulders, grinning evily enough though that the gesture of innocence was kinda lost.

"Well..." Sam began, clapping his hands together, when no one else made a move to say something, "Shall we begin? Because I have been bored since yesterday afternoon and Hydra isn't stopping itself." He pointed out and when Nick nodded and told them to lay out their planned strategy for him, Sam grinned and couldn't resist the hip check as Bucky relaxed the tiniest bit.

\--

The part of Bucky's brain that wasn't freaking out with nerves or focused on the mission right ahead, was scowling. 'Back-up incoming' Rhodey had texted yesterday, 'Trip plus a friend' he had added when Bucky had asked for names, and then Rhodey had added a fucking winky smiley after Bucky had replied to that message with a question mark.

Bucky had thought the fucking winky smiley had meant Hunter, because Hunter was a freaking nuisance and never EVER stopped talking, default modus was chatter, constant unbearable chatter. 

But no.

Fury.

So much more funnier. So much more scarier.

"I take it I was the last one you expected, Sergeant?" Said leader of Shield wanted to know and true to god, Bucky couldn't hold back on the snort escaping him. They edged around another truck, approaching the base from the west while Sam and Trip took the more scenic route through the front entrance in the east. There wasn't much traffic, a guard here and there, they really had thought no one would find them here.

So pathetic.

And sad.

A little bit.

Just a tiny little bit.

"In a way, Sir." Bucky began and held up a hand, stopping Fury in taking another step, curling metal fingers around the device attached to the lamppost, wrenching the motion sensor to a quick death with a light twist of his wrist. "Didn't expect someone in your position to still enjoy simple field work. It's not exactly a high class or interesting mission."

In fact, Bucky was quite sure Rhodey had only answered Shield's call and sent Sam and him out because Sam had been dying to have something to test Tony's new adjustments of the wings out on. And Tony had been annoying and bothering them left and right in demanding that he needed real live action feedback to know if his tech was working in perfect condition.

"Even the higher ups get bored sometimes." Fury told him with a twitch of his lips and then stepped past him to rush over to where the backdoor entrance was placed and Bucky was left blinking after him for a second.

Had Fury just smiled at him?

\--

"Do you think Bucky is doing okay?" Trip's voice reached him as he caught the shield again, the two Hydra soldiers he had hit dropping down like puppets with their strings cut across the entrance hall from them. Sam looked over to the Shield special agent, just in time to see the now knocked out Hydra goon dropping out of Trip's chokehold.

So awesome.

"Nah, he'll be fine. Awkward but fine. It's about fucking time he gets to deal with Nick, couldn't weasel his way out of it forever." He answered and then whirled around to the left, letting the shield fly while he was still moving, hitting one agent on the shoulder and slamming him against the door he has just come out of, watching how the shield bounced off said door to knock another agent right off his feet. Sam privately crinched a little over the sound it made when the shield rammed itself into the man's knees from behind.

A little bit.

These people could at least go down without making strange creepy noises.

"So fucking awesome." And Sam was totally not preening at that compliment, "How does that thing do it anyway?" Trip wanted to know as they moved on, Sam picking up the shield as they went, "Completely defies the laws of physics."  
"Don't know, stopped questioning it a long time ago. Stark tends to nag T'Challa about it when he comes by, T'Challa always says it's the power of the vibranium in it." He tried to explain and Trip glanced at the shield in Sam's right hand.

"Really?"

"No idea." Sam finally let the smirk on his lips show, "Not a fucking clue if that is true. T'Challa and Bucky like trolling Stark too much for me to believe a single word that comes out of their mouths anymore when Stark is around." And Trip laughed before kicking in the door to the next corridor, server room was their goal while Nick and Bucky were headed for the labs.  
"My grandfather used to tell me that it just does whatever the hell you want from it. 'It worked, why question it'." Trip chuckled as he walked ahead of Sam, gun drawn and aimed.

"Is this the worst or the best timing to get out with my five billion questions?" Sam wanted to know and Trip laughed louder, taking out two Hydra idiots stumbling around the corner like fools.  
"How about a deal? You get one, I get one?" He proposed and Sam found himself grinning at Trip, right hand snapping out and slamming the shield into the face of someone stepping out of the room they just passed by, left hand flinging a sleep gas capsule into the room as the door was still falling shut again.

"You got yourself a wonderful deal there, Trip."

\--

Awkward silence was uncomfortable.

Bucky liked to work in silence. 

He liked to have his head free of incessive chatter while a mission or a job was going down, hence why he preferred working with Rhodey and Sam instead of Stark or Parker. But there was silence and there was awkward silence of not knowing what to do or say to the guy you shot a few years back when you were still a brainwashed puppet on strings of a man whom said guy had trusted and considered a friend.

Awkward.

So while his brain was searching for a solution to that problem, they made their way down into the base, headed for the science labs down on the basement level. As much as they tended to have him cringe away from bad memories still, Bucky still preferred them over the server rooms, at least this way he could personally make sure everything would be destroyed, brought him more peace than avoiding the situation all together.

The beginning had been easy, the alarms had sounded but whatever distraction Sam and Trip had pulled at the front entrance had pulled most of the guards their way. They didn't run into trouble until they stepped down into the basement and got confronted with a tac team, guns drawn. Fury flew into action before Bucky's scowl could have deepened all the way and he had the group incapacitated except for one in under thirty seconds.

Only thing left for Bucky to do was grab the last one standing with a metal arm and slowly choke him unconscious, letting him drop to the ground with a quiet thud.  
"That was...epic..." Bucky spoke into the silence that occured then and looked over to Fury who rolled his good eye.

"Wasn't always sitting behind a desk, Barnes. Carter didn't recruit me for my diplomatic skillset." Fury deadpanned at him and Bucky found himself grinning, "Now move on, Soldier, before I question if you've grown too old and rusty for this."

"That supposed to be a challenge? You wanna start counting take downs, Fury?" Bucky wanted to know, following Fury into the corridor, the other man laughed, kicking open the first door they came across. Bucky hurried to not be left out of the fun.

\--

"I need someone for an op next month if you're interested." Fury asked him casually a few minutes later, two more rooms cleaned, while Bucky was still picking his brain up from where it had dropped after watching more incredibly displays of casual ass-kicking, black coat barely moving.  
"Where?" His mouth produced on autopilot, following behind Fury, flinging a grenade into another lab before slamming the door shut again as they moved down the science department corridor.  
"Madripoor." Fury answered, ramming the barrel of fun against a lab coat wearing idiot storming out of a room with a terrible battle cry towards them, he went down with an almost funny sound of surprise.

But oi, Madripoor. That sounded awesome.

Bucky still bit the eager grin away and tried to play his enthusiam off as cool stoic indifference.

"I'll have to ask the boss." He answered Fury and peeked around another corner, internally groaning when it was another long corridor with doors on either side. Seriously, couldn't these guys give their bases a little change in architecture after all these decades.  
"Not sure the boyfriend will agree?" Fury asked him and nodded for Bucky to take the right as they moved along.

"Pretty sure the boyfriend will want to come along." Bucky disagreed, checking out the first room with his gun drawn, but it was just an empty storage room.  
"Quite sure that won't present itself as a problem." Fury told him and kicked open another door, earning himself some squeaked screaming from the occupants.

Fun, fun.

\--

"You should totally come by when you've got the time. Steve would surely love it." Sam yelled out as he flew by Trip's position again, shield sailing through the air to take down the Hydra agents they had lured out of the base after collecting their intel and destroying the server room. Somewhere off to the right he could briefly spot Bucky and Nick joining the fight.

"I would love that, after everything Bucky told me I am dying to meet Riley." And Sam grinned upon Trip mentioning his little champion who was hopefully driving his Papa not too crazy since Steve had had to tell him that Dad would be coming home later. And hopefully, Steve wasn't driving Rhodey too crazy with update calls. Twisting in mid air and then landing in front of Trip with wings spread, Sam shielded them from the bullet rain coming from Hydra, handing the shield over to Trip who gaped at it only shortly before swinging around and planting it in the faces of two Hydra soldiers.

"Wow, this really feels way lighter than I expected." Trip said when he was done, handing the shield back to Sam who threw his head back and laughed, pushing himself off into the air again in the next moment, Trip returning fire at the same time.  
"I'm at 31 now!" Trip yelled out next and Sam cursed, bringing the wings close to dive to another group of Hydra assholes, he was so not gonna drop behind his new friend, "And I'm free after next week, got another mission coming up after this, but after that I've got some days off."

"New York awaits you, man."

\--

Bucky flung himself behind the overturned crate and gave himself the briefest of moments to catch his breath, before grabbing another set of ammunition from his thigh and throwing it over to Fury, reloading his gun with one from his waist.   
"What happened to no dramatic fire fights?" He grunted and turned himself onto one knee, aiming through the slots of the wooden crate. Fury huffed, leaned over the side and fired.

The shrieking cry of his targeted goon being hit made Bucky's ears bleed, god couldn't people just die silently.

"How many times did yah have to ask Rogers that back in the day?" Fury wanted to know over the sounds of shots being fired in their direction, Bucky glanced over to him, smirk curling over his lips as they got returned fire at the same time.  
"Didn't spent nearly as much time fighting by Steve's side in those days as everyone makes it out to be. I had to ask Gabe and Monty that question so many times though that I lost count." He answered and then nodded at Fury who inclined his head as well and when their attackers made a pause to reload they both jumped to their feet.

Bucky flicked a second gun up from the holster on his right and got to work.

\--

"Next time, I am coming with you to play." A voice spoke up as they stepped down from the jet, still laughing and Bucky looked up, grinning even brighter when he caught sight of the figure leaning against the rooftop entrance of Avengers tower.

"You should." He told Rhodey and broke off from their little group, taking quick steps over to the other man, almost skipping, "I am missing you too much if you're not with us." He declared and then swung his arms around Rhodey's neck, leaning in to get that kiss he had been looking forward to for two days now.

"How about you stop hanging out with your Shield friends, young Avenger, and we might get a mission together again." Rhodey proposed when they broke apart again, his arms having come around Bucky's waist. Bucky grinned at him, leaned into his touch.  
"Did you just call me a Shield goon, Rhodes?" Sam called out and Bucky and Rhodey both glanced over to him, just in time to see Fury cuff Sam over the back of the head for his tone and Sam ducking away from him with a pout on his face.

"That a way to treat your team leader, Sam? Go and get changed, your husband called me four times in the last two hours. Get home before I block his number." Rhodey quipped back and Sam rolled his eyes, but also saluted them and then rushed inside. And Bucky leaned against Rhodey, welcomed the arm that came around his shoulders and listened to Rhodey and Fury talk business while Trip whined over wanting something to eat.

He had lost friends, and he had made new ones.

But even after seventy years, he was still part of the cool kids.

**Author's Note:**

> if the interest is there, I am more than willing to turn this into a series and write more about their adventures, past and present, but I would love it if feedback could come for that offer. Either here in the comments or over on tumblr, you'll find me under the url strike-team-alpha
> 
> Thank you in advance!


End file.
